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Today, my 70-year-old grandmother has an iPad.  Most pre-teens own a smartphone.  And the term “cloud-computing” is recognized and understood by a vast majority of the population.  Technology is such a ubiquitous part of our lives that most cannot comprehend or remember how to function without it.

Technology plays a comparably significant role for home buyers and sellers, who use the Internet, email, SMS, social networking, mobile computing – and many other technologies to improve both their lives – and the process of buying or selling a home.

Every consumer has some basic demands:

• Speed
• Convenience
• Choice
• Value Added
• Quality
• Service
• Discounts
• Information

Buyers expect a quick response from real estate professionals and quick access to listings of interest.  Sellers expect to know that their listing is online as soon as they have signed the papers.  Both buyers and sellers expect access to information quickly and easily.

Buyers want access to listings from the convenience of their computer or mobile phone while sellers want to be able to access their listing information and view any reports generated from it whenever and wherever they want.

Buyers want to be able to find listings from a website of their choosing, be that Zillow, Trulia, Google, etc.  Just as not everyone chooses the same flavor of ice-cream, not everyone searches for listings using the same website(s).

Virtual tours, downloadable listing brochures, and CMAs, are all pieces that add value to a listing from the buyer’s perspective.  Sellers see value added when their listings are distributed to as many places as possible.

Buyers want access to quality listing data, just as sellers want their home to be advertised in the best, most accurate manner possible.  This also ties in to ‘information’.  Consumers want access to feature-rich sites, and with as many details about a listing as possible.  Listings that display a single, grainy photo, with virtually no additional information are quickly passed over, regardless of their relevance to the consumer.

 Based on those demands, how does technology fit into what the typical consumer expects from a real estate professional today?

In an age when ‘technology’ means everything, and keeping up with the times simply means staying competitive, real estate professionals cannot settle for just ‘okay’.

So how does technology change your game plan?

There will always be a need for technology basics: a domain name, branded email account, and a web presence.  But what are the more specific needs of today, and more importantly, what will be the needs of the future?

Selective Online Marketing

The term “online marketing” is broad.  It covers everything from having a website, to advertising via email, to pay-per-click search engine marketing and search engine optimization (SEO), to participating online in blogs and social media channels.

Because online marketing encompasses such a broad range of activities, it is essential to select the ones that optimally enhance your business.

Is money best spent paying top dollar for a custom-designed website?  What about search engine optimization?  Do the DIY advertising options available out there such as Google Ads and Facebook Ads deliver enough bang for your buck?  There are no universal answers that apply to every agent.  Fortunately however, most online advertising options are fairly inexpensive and provide analytics to help determine the effectiveness of your efforts and your reach.  

Social Media Presence

Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+ – the list keeps growing, and will likely keep growing.  Once a means to share photos and connect with friends, social networks have been rapidly expanding their reach into areas of business networking, media, and communications.

The advantage of using social media platforms as advertising mediums is that typically the only cost is a little elbow grease.  Social media will continue to be a key channel for online marketing and advertising in the immediate future, and real estate professionals should look to this area for significant business growth opportunities in 2012 and beyond.

Generational and Niche Marketing

The preface to “Rocking the Ages” by J. Walker Smith and Ann S. Clurman states: “Understanding generational values and motivations has become essential because each generation is driven by unique ideas about the lifestyle to which it aspires.  And it’s these aspirations that determine the ways consumers spend and save their money.”

The book continues, “Marketers who use the principles of generational marketing to understand the factors that influence the values and buying motivations of consumers stand a much better chance of spotting trends way ahead of the competition and reaching customers first in profitable new ways.” 

Niche marketing may be equally important to a real estate professional’s marketing plan.  Since many real estate professionals focus on very specific market areas (e.g. condos, commercial, vacation, etc.), their applicable audience needs to be identified and marketed to accordingly.

No longer can there be a one-size-fits-all approach to marketing.  Get to know your audience and the various ways you can market to them.

Do More With Less

It seems like the days are getting shorter, or our time is filling up more quickly.  Either way, technology should help to increase efficiency, not over-complicate things.

Email, instant and text messaging, automatic listing distribution, social networking – all of these tools allow real estate professionals to quickly connect with customers and peers.

Here are a few key things to look for when shopping for technology and business solutions:

Flexibility

Mobile phone providers offer different package options to their customers for a very specific reason.  Not every person wants or needs all of the same features.  Some require a data plan, while others are happy with just a plain old telephone.  Some want call display, others call waiting, still others voicemail.  Mobile carriers are successful because they allow their customers to choose which features work best for them.

The same should be true of a real estate professional’s online marketing solutions.  Keeping up with the times means having the flexibility to choose the tools that work for each individual’s personal and business needs.  Gone are the days of being forced to pay for features that will never be used, all because “it’s part of the package”.

Online Education

Real estate professionals need to be able to further their education quickly, easily, and in small, digestible chunks.  What can be learned via online education?  Perhaps the answer should be, “what can’t be?”  Product demos, online marketing trends, industry trends – the list goes on.  Online webinars, learning platforms, and other mediums provide real estate professionals with the ability to learn affordably, from almost anywhere.  Taking advantage of these opportunities provides you with a needed competitive edge.

Automatic Listing Import

Time is money.  If real estate professionals are required to re-enter their listings multiple times to get additional exposure, value has already been lost.  Accuracy is also a concern when a listing is added manually to multiple sites one at a time.  Since technology should be increasing efficiency, real estate professionals need to research tools that will help them distribute their data to numerous destinations from one entry point.

Syndication

Exposure is a key piece to every real estate professional’s marketing plan.  Consumers want their listings advertised in as many places as possible.  Syndication is a key piece to the puzzle as it generates massive listing exposure at little or no cost.  Enhanced tools such as predictive marketing help identify the areas of interest to your audience and market to them accordingly. 

Control Over Listing Data

While syndication and listing exposure are important, significant value is lost when there is no control offered with regards to the flow of listing data.  Control should be provided to every stakeholder including agents, brokers, and MLSs/Boards/ Associations.  Reporting also needs to be provided to every level so each party can determine if the destinations to which they are distributing listings are serving their best interests.

Another factor to consider is data licensing agreements.  Make sure you are confident your technology and syndication partners are serving your best interests – what do they do with your data?  What is the licensing agreement?  Are you able to easily access their data agreements and terms and conditions statements?  Answers to these questions should be clear and easy to find.

Mobile Capabilities

Research suggests that the most valuable piece of technology is still the phone.  Today’s smartphone is portable, multi-functional, and easy to use.  Real estate professionals should be able to have access to listing information quickly and easily directly from their mobile device.

A staggering and increasing number of people are relying on mobile.  For the youngest generation, it is all they know.  The ability to deliver a seamless and enjoyable browsing experience on mobile devices will only become more important as the smartphone revolution continues to take root. 

Opportunity Awaits

While some have the time and desire to learn how to code and build their own tools for online marketing (including websites), the majority of real estate professionals view their time as better spent serving their customers.  For these, a full-featured, automated service that encompasses all of the above requirements is a must.

Some might be thinking, “Technology is not a new thing, this is the same information we’ve heard in the past.” And you’re right.  Technology as a whole is not a new concept.  However, effective use of technology is.  Many have chosen to jump on every technology bandwagon that has come around, without sitting down to evaluate its true value.

It is important to remember that no matter which direction a real estate professional’s online marketing plan takes him or her, effective use of technology should increase efficiency in the areas of workflow, listing advertising, lead generation, and contact management.  If the chosen solution(s) does not do this, it is time to re-evaluate.

To borrow a line from Bob Dylan, “the times they are a-changin’”.  The world of tomorrow is taking shape today, and now is the time to embrace change.  Adapting to the new world order can be a difficult task, but for the real estate professional who is able to stay in touch with the new breed of customer…vast opportunity awaits.

The first pillar we reviewed, believe it or not, is customer service. People and service, not technology. The second pillar was a website that integrates listing syndication for mass online exposure, with control over distribution channels and access to traffic reports.

Pillar #3 is rich, engaging content. Again, not a technology tool, but a discipline consistently applied into a powerful technology platform.

An Ontario agent’s recent online testimonial to this speaks volumes. According to him, 80 percent of his business comes from his website! That is a number worth paying attention to. When we asked for specifics, his first point confirmed the importance of rich, detailed content that engages visitors.

“If I had to pick one aspect that works… well, actually there are several. I believe the ability to display a large number of photographs, room for plenty of information and the creation of a virtual tour environment is very much appreciated by my clients and potential clients. These three features not only serve to market the property well but also reflect on the client’s perception of my professionalism.”

If you have a real estate website platform that supports quick upload and delivery of engaging content, use it to your advantage. The technology is there for a reason. For example, the Point2 Agent platform allows up to 36 photos for each listing. We know that photos are the number one item consumers look for on a REALTOR®’s website, according to the Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers 2010 issued by NAR (National Association of REALTORS®). So don’t settle for one, two or 6 photos. Load it up.

We conducted research twice over the past few years each confirming that the higher the photo count, the higher the leads generated. The sweet spot? 16 photos or more. The jump in interest between 15 and 16 photos was significant enough to pay attention to. But the platform must automate the photo resizing and uploading process, so you don’t spend half a day uploading a listing.

The next item consumers find very useful on a REALTOR®’s website is detailed property information, also according to the NAR report. Take time to provide as much information possible. The old paradigm of skimping on information to force a phone call is no longer as effective, if not dead.

Buyers want to deal with an agent who offers useful information and, who relative to others, takes the time to present properties in an appealing, engaging fashion. Gives your website some competitive bite and is the professional way to go about the business.

After a whole lot of “Ohhh yeah, I remember that, that was a good one”, I decided that there were some posts that were just too good to not be seen again.

So…I’ve dug deep into our collection of bloggity goodness and picked out a few posts that deserve a few extra ‘props’.

With that being said, I introduce to you…The Best of the Blog – in the literary stylings of Point2 Agent.

I’ll start with Carey – in my opinion the most skilled and creative one of us all.  He’s got a way with words that make us all a little bit jealous. A couple of my favorites:

How to Profit from NOT Selling Using Social Media
Grease is timeless; software design not so much
Home Feedback or “Get out of my house, Stinky”

Next I picked a few of my favorites from Megan’s collection of words – and well, to be honest…Megan kicks all our butts in coming up with stuff to write about.  Not only is she one of the best writers I know – her stuff is always jam packed with a ton of valuable information.  It was hard to narrow this list down!

13 Ways to Get Your Listings Noticed
3 Listings, 3 Cities, 3 Prices
Thrillion Dollar Listings
Blogging is like Bran – The Series

Then there is Chris…who is something of a web app/technology junkie – which works well, because quite frankly – I’m not.  We can always count on him to spread the love of new and innovative trends and neat web app finds.  Here’s some of my favorites posts of his from the past year or so:

The Lost Art of The Genuine Commenter
What Real Estate Marketing Can Learn From Vitamin Water
10 Web-based Productivity Tools That Will Change the Way You Work
The Open- Source Alternative
Targeted Marketing : Too Effective, Or Just Plain Creepy?

And what would we do without our resident media guy/genius Bryan?  Without his expertise, there would certainly be a lot less great listing photos out there.  Bryan’s been offering up wicked tips on photography for a while, and has shared some advice that some people pay to get.

Hot Shot or Not? A Quality Control Checklist
HDR for Real Estate Photography
Merging Knowledge with Technology: The New Real Estate Photographer
Choosing a Digital SLR Camera

And lastly, here are a few of my own personal blog bests from yours truly. I’ve seen some of my very first posts – I wont go there…let’s just say I think my writing has improved quite a bit over my time at Point2.

Handy Tools to Help You Lead the Ultimate Double Life, Online That Is
Who Invited Them!?
Listing Type: Container Home?

I hope you’ve enjoyed this compilation of ‘Greatest Hits’.  There’s a lot of great stuff that you can put to use in all of them.  And if there is anything that you would like to see on here and haven’t – let us know!

Since you’ve been loyally reading all the bran posts up till now you probably already know this.

Your blog is the center of the universe.

Well your universe.

The epicenter or hub of your social media and community building strategy should be your blog.  (Not sure what to do with social media?  You’re not alone.  But, that’s a topic for another post, or two, or ten.)

People may think that with the rise in social media tools like Facebook and Twitter – you know, the ‘big ones’ – means that blogging has gone the way of the dodo bird.  Extinct.  Pointless.  Done.

Not true.

Blogging works alongside your other social media efforts, and is not replaced by them.

Consider this.  Blogging allows you to carry on a conversation more in depth than what may be possible with something like Twitter.  It’s a lot harder to give a complete explanation or opinion in just 140 characters.  But, blog about it and you can easily condense the gist of the post (say, the title, for example) and a link to it in 140 characters or less.

See how they work hand-in-hand?

More importantly, people are still reading blogs.  By blogging for your business, you  have the potential to make contact with people that you might otherwise not have done through other more traditional or not-so-traditional mediums.

Read This:

• Are Blogging and Commenting Still Important Tools in Social Media?

But wait, there’s more!

S to the E to the O

Search engines love blogs.

Why?

Basically, for the same reasons people do. Because there is always new, fresh, and very relevant content being added to a blog.  Search engines love that stuff.

I’m going to keep it short and sweet and list off just a few points.  Click through to the links for the expert explanations.

• Keyword-rich content.
• Fresh and frequently updated content.
• Lots of links – of all kinds.

Read This:

• Six Reasons SEO’s Love Blogs
• SEO Benefits from Blogs

There you have it.  Bran is good for you, and now you know blogging is too.

How else is blogging like bran?

Well, let’s recap…

It’s 100% Natural, Full of Fiber, Keeps You Regular, Tastes Good, and It’s Good For You!

Well that’s the end of this (not-so-)little mini-series.  I hope it was as informative and fun for you to read along, as it was for me writing it.

I’m not going to lie, I probably could have come up with 10 Ways Blogging Is Like Bran – bran is just that good.  But, hopefully these 5 tips will stick with you (just like a good bowl of bran gets you through the day) and help you craft the next great blog post.

Have you put these tips into action?  I’d love to see some of your new and improved blog posts.  Send them my way: blogging@point2.com.

Tasty crunchy morsels.

The last two posts in this series have dealt with crafting your content, and naturally this one builds on that.  Because really, that’s the primary focus of your blog … great content.

Want to know a great secret about blogging?  Not everything you put on your blog has to be 100% original content.

Warning: Please don’t take this to mean that you can just go and use someone else’s content as your own.  Because I definitely do not mean that.

Here’s what I do mean.

Knowing, as you should if you’ve read any of the other posts in this series, that you need to speak to your readers as yourself; it is important that you actually know what you’re talking about.

Sometimes, that’s just not possible.

For me, I fully accept the fact that I don’t know the in’s and out’s of every new tech gadget.  When I was writing a recent post about the new Apple iPad for real estate I knew that my level of savvy on this topic was basically non-existent.

How can I write with authority and personality about something I know nothing about?  I can’t.

So I didn’t.

I let the rest of the experts do the talking and writing.  I still wrote a blog post.  In that blog post, I admitted that I wasn’t the expert, but was able to provide our readers some valuable information about the iPad by sharing a list of links to various other experts’ discussions.

Those sort of tasty, crunchy flakes of goodness are gold.

You don’t have to be the expert to be credible.

You may have noticed that throughout this entire series I’ve been linking off to other blog posts and articles written by experts in all types of bloggery.

My linking to their awesome posts doesn’t make me less credible.  It’s also not about my being lazy or unoriginal.  (And that thought would never enter your mind, right?)

This is more about embracing the spirit of Web 2.0, as cliché as that sounds.  Being open and honest.  Sharing and collaborating on information.  An interchange of ideas.  Establishing connections.  I could go on…

My point?  Referring to other sources helps build your credibility and helps you maintain a level of transparency.  You’ve done your research and you’re going to ensure that the people you’ve learned from receive the credit they’re due, too.

It gets even better.

You are sharing with your readers the wealth of information out there that could help them, and that they might not have stumbled across on their own.  But you’re not only sharing content, you’re sharing who wrote the content.  In a way, you’re showing respect and building a relationship of sorts with the author of the content you’re linking to.  And Link Love is a great thing.

It could even mean linking to someone who could be perceived as your competitor.  That might seem like a foolish and scary move, but it’s not necessarily a bad thing.

Read This:

• Why Linking to Other Blogs Is Critical

There you have it.  Another compelling reason why blogging is like bran.  Stay tuned for the 5th and final post in the series, coming soon.

I strongly encourage you all to click-through to the Read This links I’ve suggested in all these posts.  The people writing those tips and suggestions are blog geniuses and know their stuff.  I have learned (and continue to learn) so much from reading what they write.

Why should you blog regularly?  Tips for staying regular on your blog.

Blogging is good practice.  The more you blog the easier it becomes to put your words down in some sensible way and hit the Publish button.  So, obviously, the less you blog the more difficult it can be to work up the courage to put down what you want to say in words, feel confident about it, and actually put it out there for people to see.

So for your own sake, blogging on a regular basis benefits you.

It also benefits your readers.  While you don’t want ‘information overload’ you want your readers to consider you the authority on the real estate market in your area.  If you post frequently, you’ll be showing that you know your industry, you know your area, and you know your stuff.  Good for them, and really really good for you.

How frequent is ‘frequent’?  Well, that depends a lot on your time and your readers’ time.

Your time.  You want to write a quality post that makes sense, and hopefully without tons of spelling mistakes.  So if you don’t have time to write a post and give it a proper once over, then it’s probably not ready to post today.  Generally, posting once every couple days is acceptable.

Your readers’ time.  If you post infrequently, your readers will forget about you.  If you post too much, you’ll overload them and they might not be able to keep up.  Consider that your blog is probably not the only blog that people are reading.  Make sure your valuable information doesn’t get wasted because you’re sending out too much.

For a look at both sides of the coin,

Read This:

• Blogging Consistency and Posting Frequency
• The Three-Step Guide to Getting More Traffic by Writing Less

Why do you want people to come back?  Why is blog traffic important?

Ummm, really?  Do we honestly have to answer this?

Any blogger (in any industry) wants readers.  Ultimately, in the case of the real estate industry, the hope is that readers of your real estate blog will become familiar with you, feel comfortable with you, feel confident in your abilities, and when the time comes for them to require the services of a real estate professional, you’ll be the one they contact.

That’s why you want people to read your blog.  That’s why you want that traffic.

So now what?

1) Don’t try to write an essay each time you sit down to blog.  Try to keep things short and sweet.  (OK, ok I know I am guilty of breaking this rule myself.)

If you’ve got a lot to say and it works to split it up over a series of posts, give that a try.  Using serial posts will help attract repeat visitors to your blog, as well.

Read This:

• 10 Steps to Writing A Successful Series on Your Blog

2) Stay current and relevant.  Talk about things that are happening right now which would affect your readers.  Have the mortgage rates climbed or dropped?  Is the city rezoning certain areas?  Has there been a recent property tax hike?

Pretty basic, right?

3) Make sure you reply to comments … engage the readers.  Regular interchange with your commenters will help build loyal readers.

Not getting any comments on your blog?

Read This:

• 10 Techniques to Get More Comments On Your Blog

I strongly encourage you all to click-through to the Read This links I’ve suggested.  The people writing those tips and suggestions are blog geniuses and know their stuff.  I have learned (and continue to learn) so much from reading what they write.